Originally on an off-road sand rail people used Ford tie rod ends at the spindle and international tie rod ends on their off-road rack and pinion. The Ford ends were slightly smaller than International which still left you enough material to ream out the stock VW spindles using a 7 degree ream.

If you have aftermarket Combo Link or King Kong spindles, those both use International tie rod ends or heim joint rod ends. Combo Link and King Kong will NOT use Ford ends.

In some rare cases, people will have very old Wright rack and pinions that also used Ford ends. All modern off-road rack and pinions use an International tie rod end.

On an original Ford and International tie rod end they were threaded 11/16-18 just like OEM. People would cut their tie rod shafts to length and use an 11/16-18 tap to rethread their tie rod shafts. The tap was expensive and for people who continuously broke their tie rod ends, they couldn't upgrade to a heim joint rod end because an 11/16 heim joint rod end is almost impossible to find.

Eventually in the off-road market the Ford and International tie rod ends were changed to ADAPTER tie rod ends that have a 3/4-16 threaded shank instead of 11/16-18. The tap to rethread the tie rods was way less expensive than the 11/16 tap and if you wanted to upgrade from tie rod ends to heim joint rod ends you could simply go from a 3/4 shank Ford or International end to a 3/4 shank rod end without having to buy or fabricate new tie rod shafts.

Specifications:Material Type: SteelFinish: Natural

Stud Length: 1.75 Including the threadsStud Diameter: 0.63 Inches at the top of the taperDegree of Taper: 7 Degree